Sayings of Welsh Parents

[C0rdelia]

You tell them something mildly interesting.

Nooooor. I never.

Another cwtch - ‘cwtch dan star’ (cupboard under the stairs)

I'm a fluent Welsh speaker and I've heard of (and use) most of these. A couple more:

Wel Iesgob Dafydd!! (Sort of Blimey!)

Mam fach!! Most memorably used by Dewi Pws in Grand Slam.

Yffach dân! Not a literal translation but "bloody hell" would be the closest.

@IdrisElbow I always thought this was Yorkshire, but I've heard it here in Wales often enough.

Simae dad ( said sho my dad) would be helo dad where I am- but welsh differs by region.

My nan used to say "mae bwrw hen wragged yn flin" (spelling maybe wrong as I'm not a welsh speaker) when I asked what it meant, nan said - it's raining cats and dogs. When challenged (I know the words for cat and dog!) she explained the literal meaning is- it's raining old women and sticks.

It hardly makes no more sense than cats and dogs, but made me laugh at the time

Blodyn tatws is my favourite expression of affection - it literally means 'potato flower'.

Socan potch - soaked through.

My grandmother used to say 'let's have 5 minutes for a minute' when she wanted to sit down for a bit.

Oh and nobbling for cold. And bouncing for angry!

'Tidy' . 'Mun' . Or 'oh mun, mun!' when something really goes wrong 😂 'man uffarn'. And my very favourite South welshism...'im gooying. Slong' (I'm going. So long).

Another one I remember was GF saying "fair play" when someone did something honourable/admirable.

And 'iesu mawr' when you're appalled by something. Translates to 'big jesus' 😂

'I'm going to ave 5 minutes' when you're going to have a nap. 'av five minutes by there for a minute now'

Haha! Great Xpost wirh yellowmaoampinball!

Slightly off topic ...
I still make 2 dishes my mum made when I was a child. As a child I never realised they were ‘welsh’ in any way. Stwnsh rwadan which is mashed swede and potato, very tasty. And Tatus pum minid. Bacon and potatoes. I used to love it, Anyone else eat these?

Munud not minid!

which is mashed swede and potato, very tasty.

We used to have that but we called it "potch".

Also used to have "suet-y" (sp?) which was a dumpling mixture but roasted in the oven with the Sunday joint instead of Yorkshire pudding.

So I've just texted DM and she told something funny.

Apparently when she took my DF to meet her family for the first time he found the sense of humour really clever.

In particular was in relation to the number of Dai's in the family/social circle.

Rather than the English tradition of (boring) big Dave/little Dave they had Dai Central heating (he was a plumber and only had one front tooth) and Dai brows (mono brow) and Dai oria (was know for his wind issues) .

Oh yes we had potato and swede mash - I still make it occasionally and am reminded how nice it is.

Lots of what you say is more south wales than north. We don’t do cwtch etc up here.

Iesu mawr -big jesus
Mam bach -big mam
Blydi nora - bloody Nora
For ffyc sêcs-for fucks sakes
Chwinciad chwanan - 2 jiffy’s
Malu cachu - bullshit
Yr aur - my lovely
Dal dy ddŵr - hold your water (like hold your horses)
Lle chwech -the 6th place as in toilet
Ara dêg ma dal iâr - slowly does it in catching the hen

@waitingforadulthood

Simae dad ( said sho my dad) would be helo dad where I am- but welsh differs by region.

My nan used to say "mae bwrw hen wragged yn flin" (spelling maybe wrong as I'm not a welsh speaker) when I asked what it meant, nan said - it's raining cats and dogs. When challenged (I know the words for cat and dog!) she explained the literal meaning is- it's raining old women and sticks.

It hardly makes no more sense than cats and dogs, but made me laugh at the time

This would be "bwrw hen wragedd â ffyn". Recently discovered that the "a" has a circumflex accent on it which changes the meaning: "bwrw hen wragedd a ffyn" = raining old women and sticks "bwrw hen wragedd â ffyn" = hitting old women with sticks!

@TheFairyGarden

Whose coat is that jacket?

If you fall off there and break your leg don’t come running to me!

I have no idea what this one means, or how to spell it if someone wants to have a go at translation. It’s something my grandmother always said when she was annoyed...

Jow Lariod a meplyn peploeth 🤷🏻‍♀️

Could "meplyn peploeth" be "er mwyn popeth"? The saying is the equivalent of something like "for goodness' sake" even though it translates literally as "for everything's sake"!

My gran:

Twp
There's nice boots, those shoes you're wearing
I'll be there now in a minute
There's lovely

As others have mentioned:
Cwtch for a cuddle
Ych a fi for something gross.

I always say now in a minute, and sometimes mun but that usually on comes out when I'm being rushed! My old neighbour used to call me bach as a kid too

Forgot to add, bach as in small! She would use this for most kids.

Oh another one I've never heard anywhere else than from my gran (and my dad)

Stop rushing round like a will jill of hell

No idea what a will jill is, but I know she meant i was driving her barmy!

my dad was a welshman, born and bred in swansea and he'd say 'gis a cwtch bach'

he also wanted to call me Bethania

No idea what a will jillis

Heard it used to describe freemartin heifers in the Welsh borders.